Suchergebnisse

The paper investigates the relationship between the classical liberal tradition & Daniel J. Elazar's neofederalism. In the opinion of this important political scientist of the 20th century, it is federalism that makes possible the protection of individual rights: without the constitutional framework of a pluralist federalism, democracy becomes centralized & can be a road to dictatorship. But the article is also an attempt to underline the limits of Elazar's theory & the inconsistency of his opposition between federal freedom & natural freedom. Moreover, it was not clear to Elazar how calling any form of political organization a "state" is a great obstacle to understanding the phenomenon of federalism & its polycentric order. Adapted from the source document.

The pol'al thought of Mosca underwent an evolution which led it from the anti-parliamentary & anti-democratic polemics of his first writings to an overtly liberal position in his more mature yrs. In effect, the 2 themes which make up the key of his system and upon which his fame rests, `pol'al class' & `pol'al formula' (which we are more apt to designate as `elites' & `ideology') are treated in his earlier works in a clearly anti-democratic sense. Experience & more extensive study of the parliamentary system later produced a more favorable attitude & the concept of `judicial defense' which is at the heart of the defense of individual liberties. It is thus that Mosca adheres to the liberal tradition & to an original interpretation of democracy. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

Fascist ideology and extreme right-wing parties in Western Europe.

The changes in the electoral & party system at the beginning of the 1990s had clear consequences on attitudes & behavior of Italian ordinary citizens. By looking at the feature of political competition through the analysis of several public opinion surveys, three main results can be shown. First, with respect to the self-placement on the Left-Right dimension, Italian voters "discovered the Right." Second, party locations on the Left-Right continuum became an unsettled aspect of the electoral competition: in particular, citizen perception of party placement changed according with the overall pattern of their alliances. Finally, several cues suggest that a new political entity appeared on the Italian political landscape: the coalition. From the voter perspective, Center-Left & Center-Right alliances (including their candidates) turned out to be among the main actors of the electoral competition. At least a fourth of Italian voters made use of a judgment criterion based on an amicus/hostis logic. Hence, we concluded that the (perceived) fight between party coalitions is exploited as an easy shortcut for electoral choice. 2 Tables, 6 Figures, 58 References. Adapted from the source document.